


you don’t want to disappoint captain america, do you?

by Spikedluv



Series: Dec 2017 Gift Fic [9]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, Humor, M/M, Matchmaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 16:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13505235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv
Summary: Bucky didn’t remember much from before HYDRA took him, but he did remember how he used to look at Steve when he thought no one was looking.  Right now Clint Barton was looking at Phil Coulson like that.





	you don’t want to disappoint captain america, do you?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lunabee34 (Lorraine)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorraine/gifts).



> This story is one of my December Gift Fic and was written for Lunabee34 for the prompt _MCU, Steve and Bucky are the only ones who realize Clint and Coulson are together or vice versa._. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> I'm also using this to fill the _Matchmaker_ square on my card for Round 10 of [Trope Bingo on DW](http://trope_bingo.dreamwidth.org).
> 
> Posted: January 28, 2018

Bucky didn’t remember much from before HYDRA took him, but he did remember how he used to look at Steve when he thought no one was looking. Right now Clint Barton was looking at Phil Coulson like that.

“Hmm,” Bucky said.

“What?” Steve said, raising his head from the pad where he’d been drawing (another) picture of Bucky.

Bucky was getting used to it.

“Remember what it was like back before we got together?”

Steve’s eyes went distant. “The longing,” he said.

“The looks.”

“The longing looks.” Steve smiled at Bucky.

“Yeah.” Bucky looked towards the kitchen before resting his head on the back of the couch. He closed his eyes, leaving a slit through which he continued to watch Clint and Phil.

Clint poured fresh coffee for the both of them, and while his attention was elsewhere it was Phil’s turn to look at Clint with longing. When Clint turned to set the mugs on the table Phil’s bland expression had returned.

“Hmm,” Steve said.

~*~

“Should we do something?” Steve said two days later when the UST between Clint and Phil had made Bucky and Steve return to their apartment for relief more than once.

“Like what, a double date?” Bucky said wryly.

“That would be perfect!” Steve said.

“No, Steve, that would not be perfect.”

~*~

Bucky leaned against the doorframe of Agent Coulson’s office in Avenger’s Tower while Steve earnestly asked Phil to join them for dinner.

Phil blushed. “That’s not necessary, Captain Rogers.”

“See, it is,” Steve said. “Because you’re still calling me Captain Rogers instead of Steve. I was not in a good place when we met, and you . . .”

“Embarrassed both of us with my fanboying?” Phil said.

“It’s just, now that I’m in a good place . . .”

Steve didn’t look at Bucky, but Bucky could see the pink creeping up the back of his neck.

“. . . and you’re . . . alive, I thought we could get to know each other.”

“You’re not going to disappoint Captain America, are you, Coulson?” Bucky said.

Flustered, Phil said, “No, of course not.”

Steve smiled. “Great, it’s settled then.”

~*~

“Why do you want me there again?” Clint said.

“Because you know Phil, and we know you,” Steve said.

“You want me to act as a buffer.”

“More like a bridge,” Steve said. “Plus, Bucky likes you.”

Clint glanced at Bucky and did a double-take when he saw Bucky’s smile, which was all teeth. “You’re really selling it, Cap.”

“I’ll order from your favorite Chinese restaurant,” Steve offered.

“What else you got?”

“Bucky, help me out here,” Steve said.

Bucky considered letting Steve hang, since this was his stupid idea, but Bucky had never been able to not step in and save Steve, especially from himself. “You don’t want to disappoint Captain America, do you, Barton?”

Clint gave Bucky a look. “You use that line on Coulson?”

Bucky raised his eyebrows.

“Did it work?”

“What do you think?” Bucky said.

~*~

Steve gave Bucky a grateful look when the food arrived. He jumped up to get it. Things were going pretty well, with only a little bit of awkwardness when either Steve or Phil remembered that Phil Coulson had idolized Captain America _since he was a kid_. Bucky might’ve been the one to bring it up once or twice.

The four of them had settled in his and Steve’s living room with beer. (Neither Steve nor Bucky were affected by the alcohol, but Clint had brought a couple six-packs of a craft beer he thought they’d like.) Steve and Bucky had taken the two available chairs so Phil and Clint had to sit together on the couch.

Stark showed up soon after the food did. “JARVIS said you ordered from the good Chinese place.”

“We didn’t order enough for everyone,” Steve said. “That’s why we’re eating it up here.”

Stark craned his neck to look past Steve. “Is that Barton and Agent?”

“I wanted a chance to get to know Agent Coulson better,” Steve said.

“Then you need me here,” Stark said, pushing past Steve. “I know lots of stories about Agent. Pepper probably does, too,” Stark added, before instructing JARVIS to alert her.

“Want me to kill him and hide the body?” Bucky said in a low voice to Steve when he bleakly followed Stark back into the living room.

“No,” Steve said, “but thanks for the offer.”

“Any time,” Bucky said.

Soon everyone was gathered in their living room. The one good thing, according to Steve, was that Phil and Clint were squished together at one end of the couch because Natasha and Banner were now seated on the other end. Pepper perched on the edge of one chair with Stark sat on the arm, his own arm along the back behind Pepper’s head, while Steve and Bucky shared the other. Steve started out on the arm, but Bucky dragged him down onto his lap. That was the good thing as far as Bucky was concerned.

Steve ordered more food and they listened to everyone tell stories about Phil. Natasha and Clint naturally had the best stories.

When they fell into bed later, Steve said, “That didn’t go how I planned.”

“Still fun, though, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Steve said.

~*~

Steve bought tickets to a baseball game and told Clint they were a gift he and Bucky couldn’t use because the fireworks might bother Bucky. “Why don’t you take Natasha? Or, hey, Phil?”

Bucky shook his head. Subtle, Steve was not.

~*~

Steve spent enough time drawing Clint and Phil together that Bucky started to get jealous.

“I need to get it right,” Steve said. “I was thinking of giving it to them as a gift. Maybe if they see how they look at each other . . .”

~*~

Steve scored an invitation to a new restaurant opening, bought tickets to a charity ball, and called in to win concert tickets, then came up with excuses why he couldn’t attend. He gave the invitations and tickets to Phil or Clint, suggesting they invite the other. Each time the recipient gave Steve a bemused look as they accepted the gift.

~*~

“This isn’t working,” Steve said morosely.

Bucky had to agree that, after everything Steve had done, Clint and Phil must be blind to their own feelings. Before he could say so there was a knock on the door and JARVIS informed them that Agent Coulson was outside their apartment.

Steve hurried to let Phil in. “Agent Coulson, Phil, what can we do for you?”

Phil cleared his throat. “The last time we tried to do dinner together . . .”

“Didn’t go so well,” Steve said.

“No.” The corners of Phil’s lips twitched. “I thought we might try again.”

“Tony . . .”

“Not here,” Phil said. “Why don’t we meet at my apartment?”

“Yes, that would be wonderful,” Steve said.

“I’ll send the address to your phone. Please don’t share it with Tony.”

Steve assured Phil that they wouldn’t and closed the door when Phil left.

“Do you think Clint will be there?” Bucky said.

“Shit,” Steve said.

“You kiss your boyfriend with that mouth, Rogers?”

~*~

Clint opened the door to Phil’s apartment when Steve knocked.

“Clint, hi,” Steve said, sounding relieved.

Clint ignored Steve’s weirdness. “Hey, guys, come on in.”

Steve and Bucky stepped into the apartment and Clint offered to take their jackets (and Steve’s shield).

“What smells so good?” Bucky said.

“Phil’s just finishing up dinner,” Clint said.

“Phil cooked?” Steve said.

“Phil’s a great cook,” Clint said, turning away from the closet where he’d hung their jackets and stowed the bag holding Steve’s shield.

“I don’t get much time to indulge,” Phil said, having appeared out of what must be the kitchen. “Make yourselves comfortable. Clint will get you a drink and I’ll join you in a moment.”

Phil returned to the kitchen. Since they were standing in the living room, Clint directed them to the couch and asked what they wanted to drink.

“What are you having?” Bucky said.

“I’m having a beer, but I’m making Phil an Old Fashioned.”

“Old Fashioned,” Bucky said. He nudged Steve. “We’re old fashioned. We should try one of those.”

“Alright,” Steve agreed.

They watched Clint mix the drinks and add garnish. He handed Steve and Bucky their glasses. As if they’d timed it, Phil appeared with Clint’s beer and traded it for the glass Clint held out to him.

Bucky took a sip of the rum concoction and choked on it when Phil said, “Thank you, Clint,” and leaned in to kiss Clint on the lips.

“You okay there, Barnes?” Clint said.

Bucky coughed a few times. “You . . .”

“As much as we appreciate your matchmaking efforts,” Phil said, “they’re really not necessary.”

Bucky reviewed Clint’s attire (jeans, t-shirt, bare feet), comfort level in and knowledge of Phil’s apartment.

“You two are already together?” Steve said.

Bucky started laughing and couldn’t stop.

“Buck, you okay?”

“All those tickets,” Bucky said between chuckles.

“Those were great, by the way,” Clint said, “thanks for those. The concert was awesome.”

“The restaurant,” Phil said.

Clint tilted his head in agreement. “The restaurant was good.”

“But you can stop sending us on dates,” Phil said.

Steve cleared his throat. “Um.” He stood and withdrew two tickets from his pocket. “Museum.”

Bucky started laughing again.

“Why don’t you and Sergeant Barnes, Bucky, meet us at the museum?” Phil said, the tips of his ears going pink. Probably the thought of going on an actual double date with his idol.

“Alright,” Steve said, “that . . . Bucky?”

“Sounds good to me,” Bucky said. He used to love museums, but the only time he’d been in the past seventy years was when he checked out the Captain America exhibit after the whole helicarrier debacle.

“Okay, thank you,” Steve told Phil.

The four of them went to the kitchen where Clint sliced and plated generous helpings of the lasagna Phil had made, and Phil removed the bread he’d had warming in the oven and set it in a basket.

“I hope you don’t mind eating in the kitchen,” Phil said. “My apartment’s not quite as nice as the tower.”

“You should’ve seen our apartment in Brooklyn before the war,” Bucky said.

Steve gave Bucky a look that Bucky used to resent until he realized Steve gave him the same fond look whether he remembered something from their shared past, or petted a dog, or spread peanut butter on bread without tearing it.

Still, Bucky gave Steve an elbow in the side. “Stop looking at me like that, punk.”

“Never gonna happen, jerk.”

They settled around the small table which was made to feel even smaller by the two super-sized men (three, since Barton was no slouch in the arms department) sitting around it. Still, it felt kind of cozy.

While Clint was serving seconds to everyone but Phil, Bucky asked the question that had been on his mind since they’d discovered that Clint and Phil were already together. “So what’s with the looks if you two are already together?”

“What looks?” Phil said, sounding genuinely curious.

Bucky looked between Phil and Clint, who appeared just as clueless. “Seriously?” He turned to Steve. “Show ‘em.”

Steve blushed, but got up to retrieve the drawing pad from inside the zippered shield cover. He let Phil and Clint flip through the pages to look at the various drawings he’d made of them.

“Hmm,” Phil said. “I didn’t realize.”

“We’re pretty private about our relationship,” Clint said. “First because of work, and then because it was just nice to have some place that was just ours to retreat to.”

“No one knows?” Steve said, sounding pained.

It reminded Bucky of how careful they’d had to be back before the war so no one got wind of how they felt about each other.

“Nat knows because we couldn’t hide that from her even if we’d wanted to,” Clint said.

“And Nick knew,” Phil said, giving them a look.

“Why did you trust us with this?” Steve said.

“You mean, aside from the guilt of accepting your gifts under false pretenses?” Phil said wryly.

“Yeah, aside from that,” Steve said, even more dryly.

“We figured you’d understand,” Phil said.

“And not put it on the internet or have someone sky-write it,” Clint added.

“Were we being obvious?” Phil said.

“No,” Steve said. “Bucky only noticed because . . .” He paused, blushing.

“I used to look at Stevie that way,” Bucky said. “Still do.”

Phil cleared his throat. “I’ll just clear away these plates and get out dessert. Help me, Barton.”

“I’m not done eating,” Clint protested, but he got up and helped Phil put the leftovers away.

“Stop looking at me like that, Buck,” Steve said.

“Never,” Bucky said. “You’re still the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Bucky leaned in and kissed Steve. He felt the heat from the flush pinking up Steve’s skin.

Across the small kitchen Phil made a choked sound and Clint did a fist pump. “I’m getting laid so good tonight.”

“Shut up, Barton,” Phil said.

“Make me,” Clint said, and so Phil did.

The End


End file.
